Improvement in cupola and othee furnaces



COWAN & STARR.

' Cupola Furnace.

No. 66,465. I Patented July 9. 1867.

Witnesses:

AM. PHOTO-LITHILCONX. (OSBORNES PROCESS.)

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ANDREW COWAN AND ROBERT H. STARR, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

Letters Patent No. 66,465, dated July 9, 1867.

IMlROVEMENT IN GUPOLA AND OTHER FURNACES.

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TO WHOM IT MAY CON OERN:

Be it known that we, ANDREW CowAN and ROBERT H. STARR, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven, and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Uupola and other Melting- Furnaces; and we hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the'same, reference being'had to the accompanying drawings, in which- I Figure 1 is an elevation, and 1 Figure 2 a vertical central section of that portion ofa furnace to which our improvements are applied; and

Figure 3 is a horizontal section on the line my, fig. 2. i

Our invention relates to the method of heating and supplying the blast to cupola and other like furnaces, and' it consists essentially, first, in the combination, with the furnace, of an air-receiving chamber made of wrought or cast iron, or other'suitable material, either partially or wholly encircling the said furnace at any desired point,- under such an arrangement that the heat and other products of'combustion shall come in direct contact with the plates which form the inner wall of the said chamber; second, in the combinatiomwith the furnace and hot-air chamber, arranged. for operation as just described, of t'uyeres opening at difierent elevations into the interior of said furnace, so that the blast heated in the said chamber may be caused to impinge upon the combustible matter within the furnace at any required point; third, in the application to the interior wall of the blast-heating chamber of a jacket composed of one or more corrugated plates, for protecting the said chamber against the I excessive heat generated in the furnace; and fourth, in the method of drawing in or inclining the sides of the furnace immediately above the blast-heating chamber, so as to throw or direct more of the heat against the inner wall of the said chamber. 7

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and use our invention, we will now proceed to describe the manner inwhich the same is or may be carried into efi'ect by reference to the accompanying drawing.

The lining of the furnace A is formed of brick, which rest upon the bed-plate 'a. It is thicker at the bottom, asshown in the drawing, gradually decreasing in thickness as it approaches the point where the-chargingdoor and blast-heating chamber are located. This chamber B, which is of annular form, and made of cast or wrought iron,'or other suitable plates, rests upon the walls or is otherwise held in position so as to encircle'the furnace, its inner wall forming a continuatiop of the interior wall of the furnace. In the drawing it is represented as surrounding the furnace, except at the point where the charging-door C is located. It is: needless to say, however, that the charging-door may be located at a difi'erent point, if desired, so as to admit of thexchamher being continuously annular. In order to prevent the material of which the chamber is formed from being injured by the intense heat of the furnace, we protect its inner wall, which would otherwise be completely exposed to the action of the heat and flame, by covering it with corrugated plates, 1), of cast or wrought iron, which, while they protect the chamber, at the same time allow it to be sufliciently heated to insure the heating of the air contained therein. As above intimated, there is no brick lining at the point where the chamber encircles the furnace, and therefore its inner plates are brought into closer and more immediate contact with the flame and other products of combustion,'and consequently the air or blast which is driven into the chamber by the blower or blast engine through the tube a, and strikes against the highly heated plates which compose the walls of the chamber, is heated more quickly, thoroughly, and intensely than is ordinarily the case. In order to more effectually utilize the heat, and to prevent us far as possible its being wasted, the walls of the furnace immediately above the chamber, (which are made of brick, or with a brick lining,) are contracted or drawn in towards each other, as shown at A, so as to throw the heat and flame as much as possible against the chamber and its corrugated jacket. Above this part the furnace terminates in the ordinary chimney or stack. The tuyeres or pipes m, 7L, &c., which conduct the blast from the heating-chamberto the furnace may be as many or as few in number as desired. In order that the blast maybe brought to bear upon difi'erent portions of the charge, and the blast discharged into the furnace at different elevations, the tuyere pipes are so arranged that the mouth of each is at a difl'erent elevation from the other. For instance, m is the lowest tuyere, n the next, the next, and so on. Each tube is provided with a valve or damper, by which the blast can be shut off from or admitted to pass through the tuyere. This arrangement is productive of important. advantages, as it admits of the blast being directed upon any part of the charge, thereby facilitating and hastening the process of melting the iron, and

rendering the said process much more efiectual. At the point where the pipes, m, n, &c.,bend to enter the furnace, bulls-eyes of any suitable material may be set in them, so as to allow the operator or attendant to inspect the work and to see how it progresses.

Having now described our invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be carried into effect,

what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. The combination, with a, cnpol'a or other like furnace, of an air or blast-receiving and heating chamber, applied to the said furnace in the manner described, so that theheat and other products of combustion generated within the furnace may be brought into direct contact with the metal plates which constitute the inner wall of the said chamber, for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination, with the annular chamber for heating the blast, applied to the furnace as herein described, with tuyeres opening at different elcvationsinto the interior of said furnace, as and for the purposes herein shown and specified. I

I 3. The method ofdrawing in or contracting the walls of the furnace immediately above the blast-heating chamber, as and for the purposes herein shown and described. a

4. The application to the inner wall of the blast-heating chamber of one or more corrugated or other suitably-formed plates, for protecting the said chamber against the effects of excessive heat, as herein shown and set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification before two subscribing Witnesses.-

' ANDREW COWAN,

ROBERT H. STARR.

Witnesses:

EDWIN D. Po'm'na, GYPMAN WILoox. 

